Read the general professional work overview
Hypothetical example: Rosaire manages an inn and its restaurant in Stratford. He never finished a degree, holding instead a post-secondary hospitality diploma and eleven years running rooms, kitchens and payroll. A resort group on the American coast wants him as a property manager. Hotel Manager is one of the few listed occupations reachable without a baccalaureate, but the alternative branch has its own conditions, and evidence assembled for a degree-based claim will not carry it.
Say which branch of the entry you are claiming, and claim only one
The Hotel Manager entry offers two routes. One is a baccalaureate or licenciatura degree in hotel or restaurant management. The other is a post-secondary diploma or certificate in hotel or restaurant management together with three years of experience in hotel or restaurant management. Rosaire is on the second, and the file should announce that in its first paragraph rather than leaving an adjudicator to work it out from a pile of attachments. Files that hedge, presenting an unrelated partial degree alongside a diploma alongside a long career, invite the reading that no single branch is actually satisfied.
Experience is proved by records, and a curriculum vitae is not a record
A degree arrives as one document. Three qualifying years arrive as a reconstruction, and the reconstruction has to be built from things written at the time. That means employment letters naming the dates, the property and the responsibilities; payroll or tax records covering the same periods; and, where a former employer no longer exists, whatever secondary evidence survives. The years must be in hotel or restaurant management rather than in hospitality generally, so a stretch spent as a server or a line cook does not count toward them however useful it was. Arrange the evidence chronologically so the three years are visible without arithmetic.
The letter must describe management of a hotel or restaurant, in those terms
Two findings are always required: that the person qualifies, and that the American position is the listed occupation. A resort group that describes the job as guest experience lead or as regional operations support has made the second finding harder for no reason. The letter should name the property or properties, state that Rosaire will manage the hotel or restaurant operation, describe the departments and staff within his authority, give the dates and the period requested, and state the compensation. It should also be signed by someone able to describe the work. As a Canadian citizen he needs no visa, but nothing about that reduces what the letter has to say.
What else is on your mind?
Is a matching job title enough for TN?Can years of experience replace a degree for TN?Can my own U.S. company employ me under TN?Can my spouse work if I hold TN status?Editorial source review: 2026-09-07. General preparation guidance, not an individual assessment.